sticky situation
by A. E. Stover
Summary: It takes a particular brand of (talented) idiocy to turn a minor inconvenience into an absolute disaster with just a flick of a wrist. Unfortunately, Sarada is on a team with someone who has that particular brand of (talented) idiocy. [CANON COMPLIANT; NEXT GEN; OLDER!TEAM 7]


"This," Boruto heaves, "is the _worst_ mission ever."

"Are you ever gonna stop whining?" is the usual response to such a quip, but Sarada leaves the statement uncontested. They are, after all, waist-deep in a pool of viscous purple sap. Clearing the area for construction was going to take a lot longer than they'd initially anticipated, because _someone_ didn't listen to Ino-obaachan's warning of _not_ to remove the stems before pulling the roots.

And that someone had the audacity to keep complaining. "It _stinks._ When's this thing gonna stop pouring out sap? My toes are starting to get all tingly."

"Hm. Interesting." Mitsuki gives a ponderous stare at the pool of sap they're slowly sinking into. "Yamanaka-san did say the sap can blister flesh if there is prolonged contact. I didn't imagine we'd be able to feel its effects so soon."

"What?!" Thick, wet slaps sent rippling waves through the sap. "She never said that! When'd she say that?!"

Sarada rolled her eyes. "Oh, I don't know," she began airily before pinning a sharp-eyed glare on her idiot partner, "Maybe when she was telling us _not_ to mindlessly hack away like a child wielding a kunai for the first time."

Boruto's entire face blanched. Then he snorted and pulled his brows together in a scowl. "Well, _I_ didn't hear her say that," he grumbled, yanking one hand out of the sap to stare intently at it.

"Yeah, because you were stuffing your face with fried karaage even after Konohamaru-sensei told us to— What do you think you're doing?!"

In the palm of Boruto's hand was the tell-tale wisps of swirling wind-element chakra, slowly expanding to take familiar shape. Her exclamation did little to stop him; all it warranted was a quick look in her direction and a grunt, as if to say, "What do you _think_ I'm doing?"

"I see," Mitsuki spoke sagely, as if he weren't fifteen going on sixteen, but fifteen going on forty. "He intends to use his Rasengan to cut through the sap and cut the roots."

Sarada slapped a slimy hand to her forehead. "That's not gonna work, you idiot."

Boruto seemed to take offence to this. "Yes it will," he insisted, almost in a whining tone, "I've done this before— with the vines, and—and the, uh, that other time, when we were trapped in that hurricane attack thing by those ninja birds, and—"

"That was all sheer luck," Sarada spit out, "Plus, all those cases lacked the factor of unknown resistance. We knew about the wind resistance from the hurricane because my Sharingan analyzed that. We know nothing about this—this disgusting sap."

"Well, that's why they say third time's the charm. We'll see how it goes this first time, and—"

Understanding dawned suddenly in Mitsuki's eyes, "Boruto, wait—"

"—Sarada'll keep her eyes peeled to see if it works—"

"Boruto-"

"—and if it doesn't work this time, then we'll try it again—"

"I told you, it won't work like that!"

"Aaaalright! Heeere we gooo!"

The Rasengan shot forward like a bullet, cutting right through the viscous pool. But it lost traction fast; it disapeared a few meters shy of the roots. All was silent. Then, about half a meter from where it disappeared, the sap began to bubble vigorously.

It was going to explode. And they were all stuck inside.

Boruto paled. "Ah. So that's what you meant."

Mitsuki's eyes sharpened and turned alarmingly bright. "We have three seconds."

Sarada bared her teeth. "Boruto, you _idiot._ I'm gonna _kill—"_

She never got to finish her threat, because in that moment, the pool of sap warped and blew up tremendously in size before it burst.

In hindsight, Boruto's plan, however poorly executed, did get the job done. The explosion had completely obliterated the roots, and expunged most of the sap out of the site intended for construction.

Unfortunately, that also meant the three of them were out of commission for two weeks.

 _Three_ weeks, in Boruto's case, because immediately upon recovery, Uchiha Sasuke was suddenly very interested in training Boruto how to evade enemy jutsu.


End file.
